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POZNAN, Poland (Reuters) - The world may need a new U.N. pact to compensate victims of climate change or risk a tangle of billion-dollar lawsuits linked to heatwaves, droughts and rising seas, a study said on Wednesday.
The report, commissioned by the WWF UK environmental group, said the world already had compensation deals for accidents from nuclear power, oil spills, or even objects launched into space. But there were no U.N. schemes for damage from climate change.
"The likelihood of legal action against major-emitting countries is increasing," according to the 37-page study of options written by two climate lawyers.
Among options were an international compensation fund set up by some future U.N. treaty to compensate victims, according to the report, released on the sidelines of December 1-12 U.N. talks in Poland on fighting climate change.
"You need to address this. The science is progressing far enough to make these kinds of claims legitimate," said Peter Roderick, a director of the Climate Justice Program and a co-author of the study.